On November 14,
1995, the court held a public hearing on the proposal of the State Bar of
Wisconsin and the International Practice Section of the State Bar for the
adoption of rules by which the court would license attorneys from foreign
countries as foreign legal consultants in Wisconsin, who would be able, with
specified restrictions, to render legal services in Wisconsin.The court has considered the petition, the
materials submitted in support of it, the presentation of the proponents at the
public hearing and materials subsequently filed with the court and has
determined that a procedure for the licensing of foreign legal consultants in
Wisconsin should not be adopted at this time.

The licensing of
foreign lawyers to render legal services in the United States is the province
of each licensing jurisdiction, as illustrated by the differing provisions of
the rules for the licensing of foreign legal consultants that have been adopted
in some 15 states.Yet, recent
international trade agreements and the rapid growth of transnational legal
practice strongly suggest the need for uniformity among the states licensing
foreign legal consultants, in part to enable lawyers from the United States to
enjoy reciprocal privileges abroad.

The Model Rule for the Licensing
of Legal Consultants adopted by the American Bar Association in 1993 was
explicitly intended to achieve uniform standards for the licensing of lawyers
of foreign countries to engage in international legal practice in a United
States jurisdiction and to ensure that the public interest would be fully
protected.At the same time, the Model
Rule was directed to enabling the United States legal profession to conduct a
transnational legal practice.Significantly, some of the provisions in the proposal before the court
are not consistent with those of the ABA Model Rule.

Further, the
court is not convinced of the need for the creation of a somewhat complex,
expensive procedure, one that would create additional work for the already
overburdened office of the clerk of the court.There has been no assertion that foreign lawyers have sought to engage
in practice in Wisconsin but have been precluded from doing so because of the
absence of a procedure for licensing foreign legal consultants.The proponents do suggest, however, that
Wisconsin lawyers seeking to engage in practice in some foreign countries are
being denied the opportunity because there is no reciprocal opportunity
afforded the citizens of those countries to practice here.

IT IS ORDERED
that the petition for the adoption of rules for licensing foreign legal
consultants is denied.